I have yet to see a hard snuffer tube that works as intended and their have been enough people trying.


how about the advantages

-1- It keeps the water out.

Not a problem with a decent soft snuffer. Just have the sock made of lightweight sail laminate like pentex or mylar.



-2- It is more streamlined.

Hard snuffers tend to be larger in diameter as the head of the spi can get jammed and while the soft snuffer can locally expand the hard snuffer can't.



-3- It acts somewhat as a jib endplate.

Right ! Having the jib foot angle down toward the mast takes care of any issues here.



-4- It is stiffer, for less dynamic losses in puffs.


Not a problem with the soft snuffer as the snuffers don't do diddly in the way of pole stiffness and sorts.


There are a few simple reasons why the soft snuffer remain so popular.

They don't break (hard ones do !)

They don't have sharp edges when they break (glass and carbon hard snuffers have)

They are cheap

They allow the snuffer to set itself to the bundled up spi that is pulled in allowing easier doucing

They are lighter in weight

They don't seem to suffer from any performance hit that isn't also linked to hard snuffers.

They are alot easier when trailering the boat.


I dare say that marstroms new snuffer will not be any different from the hard snuffer that came and went before

Wouter